WRITING, READING, AND DREAMING

As writers, we must define success and hold the definition dear. To do otherwise is to invite depression. Creative types are vulnerable to all the highs and lows of the emotional rollercoaster. For example, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t dream of hitting number one on the Amazon Best Seller List.

It’s fun, kind of like when my dad and I used to buy a lottery ticket at the beginning of a long trip and while-away the hours planning how we would spend the interest of the grand prize.

The danger lies in vesting real emotion (and hope) in unreal daydreams. There is no forward progress, individually or as a society, without daydreams. But it takes maturity and experience to manage such remarkable enthusiasm.

So my advice, to myself if no one else is listening, is to define success and remember the definition. I have sold more books each year than the previous year. All the experts agree that this is the road to success. There has to be a slow boil before a rolling boiling, yes?

Recently, the world of writers has been a beehive of speculation about the new rules of Kindle Unlimited. Starting on July 1st, 2015, Amazon began paying authors and publishers page by page. Finding the rate of pay is a bit harder than it seems, because as in the past, it varies depending on how many pages are read each month, the size of the fund, and a writer’s individual share.

The general consensus seems to be that the rate of Kindle Unlimited payment will be around one half of one cent, or $0.005. (Please check my math, I suck at it.) Last night I looked at the reported pages read of my five books and one story-story-novella and used my calculator. The result was a little over $14.00. As far as I can tell, the result is about the same to me as it was before the changes in the Kindle Unlimited program.

I have just violated one of the big rules of self-promoting. I have risked exposing myself as not successful. The thing to do, say the marketing experts, is brag about all the money you are making. Allegedly, that makes it easier to sell books.

So here it is. I am going to shuck it down to the cob for you, give you the Paul Harvey, the real deal in all my reckless honesty.

During this late date in July 2015, I have made about $15.00 in Kindle sales and $15.00 in Kindle Unlimited page-sales. With luck, I will multiply that by many thousands in the next three days!

Sorry, let me get back on track here.

The definition, the ground rules, the way I maintain my sanity is this. I love to write. I did it for thirty years without making any money and sharing it by way of a few beta readers and rejection letters from editors and agents. Now there are people who read my stories. I still love to write. Each year I find more financial success. And since everyone likes a happy ending, let me say that my audio book sales often surprise me.

I don’t have to win the lottery. I would, as much as I love my job (most of the time), embrace the chance to earn a full-time living writing stories.

It could happen.

It can only happen if readers take a chance on an indie author like me. Will you take a chance? Maybe read something on Kindle Unlimited or purchase Enemy of Man, which is on sale for one more day at $0.99? Tell a friend?

Best wishes. Have a perfect day.Scott

Changed by captivity and torture, hunted by the Reapers of Hellsbreach and wanted by Earth Fleet, Kin Roland hides on a lost planet near an unstable wormhole.

When a distant space battle propels a ravaged Earth Fleet Armada through the same wormhole, a Reaper follows, hunting for the man who burned his home world. Kin fights to save a mysterious native of Crashdown from the Reaper and learns there are worse things in the galaxy than the nightmare hunting him. The end is coming and he is about to pay for a sin that will change the galaxy forever.